1588 edition), Michel de Montaigne tells us about the story of a woman becoming a man just by jumping higher than usual. Montaigne included the story in his Essays (first published in 1580) and repeats it in his Travel Diary (written in 1580-1581, posthumous publication), . The story of Marie Germain is about a man (called Germain) that Montaigne claims to have seen, who used to be a woman (called Marie) until the age of twenty-two. At that age, his masculine organs came out of his body.

When Montaigne told this anecdote in his Essays, the reader doesn’t really understand what this has to do with the strength of imagination –never did he say that this woman dreamt to become a man.

There are examples of supernatural transsexual phenomenons, known in medieval literature. In Ide and Olive, a chanson de geste from the XIIIth century, a young person, born girl but dressed as a boy for a long time is anxious about the idea of being caught to be a woman in disguise. Her prayer works and God makes a penis grow on her body so that she can really become the man the had the appearance of for many years (see Watt 1998).

But Montaigne’s story is told again together with another anecdote in his Travel Diary. There he speaks about a female husband, a woman who dressed as a man and married a woman but who later is put on trial. This woman-man says s/he would rather be hung than dress again as a woman. This transvestite was indeed condemmed to death. Soon after, Montaigne narrated a second time the story of Marie Germain, as a good counterbalance to the story of the female husband. From this version, it is clear that Marie Germain is an intersex whose masculine organs were not apparent before she was twenty. M ontaigne repeats he has seen this Germain after his gender change, that was perfectly accepted by the church and the community, and who was wearing a big beard. Stressing this comparison between a negative figure of the female husband (transgender) and the good and socially accepted Marie Germain (intersex), Montaigne seems to build a difference between sex and gender. Changing gender is only acceptable when there is a connection between sex (and secondary sex characteristics such as Germain’s beard) and social gender.

Henry Fielding, The Female Husband. Or, The Surprising History of Mrs Mary, alias Mr George Hamilton, Who was convicted of having married a Young Woman of Wells and lived with her as her Husband. Taken from her own Mouth since her Confinement, London 1746.